Page 32 of Step Brother Bear

“You ripped a guy's arm off?” Surely he’s exaggerating.

“Yeah, it snapped like a piece of celery in my jaws.” He laughs, and I’m reminded that I’m lying next to a predator. I’m convinced he doesn’t hate me, but he just admitted to going through an uncontrollable change. I should be frightened, and yet, I must rub my legs together to give myself the much-needed friction my body currently craves.

My phone pings, and I pick it up, reading Lewis's message on my home screen.

Hey, how are you feeling? I miss you.

I click the screen off and shove it under my thigh, embarrassed. It’s not fast enough, though. Derek leans over me, a disappointed look in his eyes. “You know you’re too good for him, right?”

I look away from his intense stare. “No I’m not.”

“Isabella…”

“What?”

He grabs my jaw, pulling my attention to him. “He’s a prick and an idiot.”

“He’s not an idiot.”

“He dumped you. I can’t think of anything more stupid.”

I tingle under his grasp. The world slips away, and I’m lost in his dark eyes. I don’t think he’s ever said anything nicer. Except that’s not true, he’s always finding small ways to compliment me, and I usually brush them away as if it’s another form of teasing. Now his words hold a different weight, one that grounds my heart in place.

The space thins between us, his face moving toward mine. My eyes flutter closed, but before his lips crash against me, a twig snaps, and I pull back, catching a squirrel rushing across the clearing and climbing up into a tree.

When I turn back to Derek, he’s walking toward the stream. I get one glorious glimpse of his asscheeks before he shifts back into his bear form and submerges himself in the stream.

I’m restless, and once he’s swimming against the current, I follow after him, standing at the edge. I kick at the ground and juggle from one foot to the other. I’m flustered, not focusing on my steps. My feet slip on a wet rock, flying out from underneath me. I fall into the stream, catching myself on my hands. “Fuck!” I yell, pain shooting up my leg. Derek swims over as I sit up, examining my bloodied shin.

He shifts again, but not completely. His body remains in his bear form, but his neck and face return to his human self. He tsks, cradling my leg in his bear claws. “Look what you did.”

It’s an odd sight, a monster tending to my wound. He presses his furry paw against the gash.

“Ouch! What the fuck?” I try to pull away.

He grabs my ankle and pulls me back to him, my ass scraping against the river rocks. “Stop being a baby.” He holds me in his arms as if I am just that.

My cheeks heat. My body is on fire. “I’m not being a baby. You hurt me.”

The space between us is thick as I stare into his eyes, my body pressed against his furry chest.

“Are you going to cry?” he asks, almost a whisper. He can never resist teasing me. God, do I hate the way my body reacts, practically vibrating in his arms.

“No,” I say, my eyelids growing heavy.

He leans in, skimming his lips along my cheeks until he reaches my earlobe. “I’ll give you something to cry about.” He bites at my neck. I yelp, but then he kisses the assaulted spot, causing me to groan with pleasure. The sensation relieves the pain in my leg, demanding all my attention. I wrap my arms around him, and my eyes fall closed.

His hands shift back to human, and with one, he pushes aside the fabric of my top and rolls my hardened nipple between his fingers. His other hand trails down my body, uncovering my cunt from my bikini bottom and seeking out the slick between my legs. “What happened to making me cry? Aren’t you going to hurt me?”

“I don’t need to hurt you to make you cry, Isabella. You’ll have tears soon enough.” He strums my clit, playing my body as if it’s what he’s made to do. It’s only a matter of seconds before I’m sputtering, my insides turning into the consistency of the water around me. I try not to, but I cry out, tears falling down my cheeks just like he said I would.

He barely waits a second before flipping me over and molding over me, most of my body submerged below the water but my boobs floating to the top as he plays with my nipple. His other hand positions his cock at my entrance.

A wave of fear rushes over me as I feel his tip. He’s always had a massive dick, but he’s mostly in his bear form now. He’s bigger than usual—in all ways.

I reach back, digging my nails into his fur. “Derek!” I want to tell him to wait, that I don’t think I can take him, but I don’t get the words out before he pounds into me, stretching me past my max. I scream, my vision blurring. I’m sure I’m about to die, be ripped into two, but somehow I recover. No, not recover—much, much better than that. “Oh, my God. So. Fucking. Good.”

“You were made for me, Isabella.”